Poe is one of my favorite humans to ever live. Last year I vistsed his old house in the Bronx where his wife virginia died and a few years ago I placed a flower on his grave (I didnt even think to visit his house down there and I'm kicking myself). His face is my ohone background too 😅 just love this guy. I love the poem Alone. MASQUE of the Red death, Cask of A, and the Black cat.
I haven’t read the novel but I did just finish Pym by Mat Johnson, a funny little book where a professor of literature goes on an expedition in search of the mysterious island described by Poe. Great to follow along with your Poetober!
Excited to hear your thoughts on Poe! My own tbr is stacked and I've read a lot of Poe before, so I'll be reading other things, but nice to see your thoughts on it!
Great video! Now, I'll write two (semi-rambling) observations. First: My favorite poems by Edgar Allen Poe are "The Raven," and "To Helen." The 2nd poem I mentioned ("To Helen") is much shorter than the much more famous poem that you covered in your video...."To Helen" is basically a Classical ode, dedicated to a woman who was the mother of one of his childhood friends (according to the poem's Wiki). The thing about poetry (for those beginning to read poetry) that's helpful to bear in mind, is that its aesthetic is akin to photography; whereas the aesthetic of specific genres of prose (like the short story and the novel) are akin to movies. (I may have mentioned my above, personal insights about the aesthetic differences between poetry and prose in a past comment; I apologize if I did so.) So, poetry is more about the overall sensory impressions that one gleans from the words; whereas prose is much more straight-forward story telling...and please, don't even get me started about the sort of "prosaic poetry" that cats like Walt Whitman would eventually pioneer later on in the 19th century! LOL That sort of literature is somewhere in between. (I'd like to think that Whitman's poetic style was primarily grounded in his work in the newspaper business; hence the radical political leaflet nature that chiefly characterized his sole collection, "Leaves of Grass.") Second: Horror, as a modern artistic genre, undeniably has its roots in the Gothic literature of Edgar Allen Poe. It's cool that you're studying its roots; but since you mentioned psychology as being a primary component of Poe's work....I have some thoughts on psychological horror from the 20th and 21st centuries. While Stephen King was the de-facto "King of Horror" for literature during the 20th century, it's also worth pointing out that a much more recent artistic medium is a perfect vehicle for telling horror stories: video games. The Silent Hill series of video games have to be one of my all-time favorite works of psychological horror...I don't know if you're personally familiar with any of those games yourself, active mind, but in the very least, you can watch playthroughs of them for this Halloween season. Horror is great, regardless of the artistic medium, or their associated genres that exemplify the spookiness! Happy Halloween, everyone; again, great video, Active Mind!
The Active Mind Poetober Thanks, Brock, I enjoyed reading along with you, as well as listening to you read aloud parts of "Poe's prose" and poems. MS. FOUND IN A BOTTLE • "the peevishness of second childhood" THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO • "I must not only punish but punish with impunity." Like the sussuration you cited, here I noticed 'im' and in' Insult, impunity, immurement, immolation, imposture, Impossible!, insure, intoxication, intention, inmost, interior, immediately, instant, indeed, implore, indication, interruption, impatient, etc. THE TELL-TALE HEART • "hypocritical smiles" • "I then replaced the boards so cleverly, so cunningly, that no human eye- not even his-could have detected any thing wrong." • Narrator threatened, so exterminates the "evil eye," after convincing himself he can't be caught. The crime can be cleaned up but not his conscience. He's compromised by compunction. The Tell-Tale tattletale heart and evil eye are his.
I read Poe a long time ago certainly for school courses and chose him for my papers. For irony, Fortunato wasn't fortunate. I liked how Skip Martin played Hop-Toad in the 1964 film The Masque of the Red Death. I've seen a few actors perform The Raven by memory at poetry readings over the years. I like susurration. {One thing I don't like about French is how it removed the 'S' like "fête" is "festa" in Italian.} Poe and detective fiction.
I remember reading the cask of amontillado in high school and that's when I fell in love with Poe. Great choice!
Poe is one of my favorite humans to ever live. Last year I vistsed his old house in the Bronx where his wife virginia died and a few years ago I placed a flower on his grave (I didnt even think to visit his house down there and I'm kicking myself). His face is my ohone background too 😅 just love this guy.
I love the poem Alone. MASQUE of the Red death, Cask of A, and the Black cat.
Nice special effects!
I enjoyed MS. Found in a Bottle.
The feel of it reminded me a lot of Moby Dick.
When I read "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket", that's when I realized, where "Moby Dick" came from... greatest american novel!
I haven’t read the novel but I did just finish Pym by Mat Johnson, a funny little book where a professor of literature goes on an expedition in search of the mysterious island described by Poe. Great to follow along with your Poetober!
Excited to hear your thoughts on Poe! My own tbr is stacked and I've read a lot of Poe before, so I'll be reading other things, but nice to see your thoughts on it!
Great video! Now, I'll write two (semi-rambling) observations.
First:
My favorite poems by Edgar Allen Poe are "The Raven," and "To Helen."
The 2nd poem I mentioned ("To Helen") is much shorter than the much more famous poem that you covered in your video...."To Helen" is basically a Classical ode, dedicated to a woman who was the mother of one of his childhood friends (according to the poem's Wiki).
The thing about poetry (for those beginning to read poetry) that's helpful to bear in mind, is that its aesthetic is akin to photography; whereas the aesthetic of specific genres of prose (like the short story and the novel) are akin to movies.
(I may have mentioned my above, personal insights about the aesthetic differences between poetry and prose in a past comment; I apologize if I did so.)
So, poetry is more about the overall sensory impressions that one gleans from the words; whereas prose is much more straight-forward story telling...and please, don't even get me started about the sort of "prosaic poetry" that cats like Walt Whitman would eventually pioneer later on in the 19th century! LOL
That sort of literature is somewhere in between.
(I'd like to think that Whitman's poetic style was primarily grounded in his work in the newspaper business; hence the radical political leaflet nature that chiefly characterized his sole collection, "Leaves of Grass.")
Second:
Horror, as a modern artistic genre, undeniably has its roots in the Gothic literature of Edgar Allen Poe.
It's cool that you're studying its roots; but since you mentioned psychology as being a primary component of Poe's work....I have some thoughts on psychological horror from the 20th and 21st centuries.
While Stephen King was the de-facto "King of Horror" for literature during the 20th century, it's also worth pointing out that a much more recent artistic medium is a perfect vehicle for telling horror stories: video games.
The Silent Hill series of video games have to be one of my all-time favorite works of psychological horror...I don't know if you're personally familiar with any of those games yourself, active mind, but in the very least, you can watch playthroughs of them for this Halloween season.
Horror is great, regardless of the artistic medium, or their associated genres that exemplify the spookiness! Happy Halloween, everyone; again, great video, Active Mind!
Thank you for joining in on reading Poe and sharing your thoughts! I like the metaphor poetry to a photograph, that’s a neat way to think of it
The Active Mind Poetober
Thanks, Brock, I enjoyed reading along with you, as well as listening to you read aloud parts of "Poe's prose" and poems.
MS. FOUND IN A BOTTLE
• "the peevishness of second childhood"
THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO
• "I must not only punish but punish with impunity."
Like the sussuration you cited, here I noticed 'im' and in'
Insult, impunity, immurement, immolation, imposture, Impossible!, insure, intoxication, intention, inmost, interior, immediately, instant, indeed, implore, indication, interruption, impatient, etc.
THE TELL-TALE HEART
• "hypocritical smiles"
• "I then replaced the boards so cleverly, so cunningly, that no human eye- not even his-could have detected any thing wrong."
• Narrator threatened, so exterminates the "evil eye," after convincing himself he can't be caught. The crime can be cleaned up but not his conscience. He's compromised by compunction. The Tell-Tale tattletale heart and evil eye are his.
Love those insights and observations you made! I appreciate you watching and joining along!
Berenice is wonderfully dark!
I read Poe a long time ago certainly for school courses and chose him for my papers. For irony, Fortunato wasn't fortunate. I liked how Skip Martin played Hop-Toad in the 1964 film The Masque of the Red Death. I've seen a few actors perform The Raven by memory at poetry readings over the years. I like susurration. {One thing I don't like about French is how it removed the 'S' like "fête" is "festa" in Italian.} Poe and detective fiction.
I'm getting through some Poe myself, I thought the Fall of the House of Usher was unnecessarily verbose. It was alright
I can see that, I think it might've been my least favorite of the stories I read